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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-03-08Dryden Ag Committee March 8, 2017 Page 1 of 4 Dryden Agriculture Committee March 8, 2017 Members Present: Evan Carpenter (Chair), Kim LaMotte, Brian Magee, and Steve Foote Liaisons: John Kiefer (Planning Board), Jason Leifer (Town Board) and Craig Schutt (Conservation Board) Guests: Debbie Teeter and Monika Roth (Cooperative Extension) and Craig Anderson The meeting was called to order at 7:40PM. Agriculture and Farmland Protection Plan: - The Committee continued to review the lists of farmers and the properties that have ag assessment. o TC3 should be treated the same as Cornell and The William George Agency since they are both educational facilities. J. Leifer – In December Jason met with Monika regarding issues with the Ag Plan. There was still a lot of information regarding Lansing and the Committee is concerned that this document is too much about Lansing and not focused on Dryden. Is there a time that this will turn into a Dryden document? M. Roth agreed and stated that it does appear to be similar to Lansing and she assumes there will be a change. The “flavor” is not right, it does not capture the essence of Dryden. It needs more tweeking to be more reflective of the flavor of Dryden. An example is the statement that “Agriculture is alive and well in Dryden” whereas a lot of the Committee members would say it is in a flux. There are three large dairy farms rather than a multitude of small ones. There aren’t a whole lot of value added facilities. M. Roth feels there is some stuff that is not captured. For example, Hopshire and other value added businesses that are not included. J. Leifer - Is this going to happen or do we need to find other folks to do this? S. Foote – it seems like we have gone out and there are 2 to 3 focused farming areas in the Town equaling about 2,500 to 3,000 acres. The Town has about 60,000 acres and we are trying to pick out little spots. Rocky Acres farm is a small scale farm with some livestock and vegetables. There might be more little farms out there like that. J. Leifer asked if ag is trending toward that in the Town. D. Teeter admitted that she has not really spent a lot of time reviewing the plan but she believes the trend tends to be toward larger dairies and small niche farmers. J. Kiefer said that when he opens the plan and reads that farming is alive and well and the acreage being cultivated is up 10%, he asks why then do we need a protection plan if that is the state of affairs. M. Roth indicated that, per NYS, the plan isn’t so much about protecting agriculture as the economic development opportunities that exist for future agriculture. Where do Dryden Ag Committee March 8, 2017 Page 2 of 4 you see the future, what are the opportunities, what are the strategies to enhance those opportunities. J. Kiefer said that should be stated right up front, this is what the plan is about S. Foote stated that we need a mission statement of what our goals are for the document. D. Teeter said that the goal for the past few meetings was to work toward that. J. Kiefer – one of the benefits of the document is for the non-farming community. Something they can pick up and read and quickly understand what is going on in farming. He does not think it is there. M. Roth indicated that the Town is difficult to characterize because it is dispersed. We have concentrated dairies but the other enterprises are dispersed. J. Kiefer – it sounds like, from listening to folks on the Committee, that in some places dairy is alive and well. But small dairy farmers keep falling to the way side. It sounds like there is a segment of the community that is really struggling and he doesn’t see that in the document. He has read the document but it doesn’t connect with what he has been hearing at the meetings. C. Anderson pointed out that solar will have an impact on ag. K. LaMotte shared a document that she and C. Schutt had reviewed that was published by Cornell University – it has a lot of information/ maps that can be beneficial to the plan. K. LaMotte suggested that it should be added to the appendix. There was a discussion about the maps and charts in the document. D. Teeter is still waiting for R. Burger to get the information to her that he promised. C. Anderson recommended working on the wording before the maps. A lot of the plan can be condensed so you might not need as many maps and the data has to be correct which might also reduce the number of maps required. M. Roth asked if the Committee had a vision of the future of ag in the Town. E. Carpenter – we are down to 3 large dairy farms with a lot of small expanded hobby farms popping up as businesses, like the breweries. What we are trying to accomplish is to be left alone from regulations that would hinder the farmer to develop what they see is the direction that the consumer nearby is going for. We don’t want any restrictions or regulations that would restrict the rapid response of the farmers to meet that market. We don’t want the farmer to be restricted. If a farm wants to have 2,000 cows, let them because that gets other land that has been growing brush for years back into production. Or a person who wants to put greenhouses on vacant land, let them do it. We have the two ends of the spectrum here in Dryden. The small 40-100 acre farms are disappearing but there are other ag businesses taking their place. We used to have a woolen mill in this Town, we had enough sheep in the town to keep the mill busy. It was good for all of the agriculture in Dryden. The woolen mill got started which led to the increase in sheep in town. They were able to respond rapidly to take advantage of the market. M. Roth offered an example of a greenhouse owner in Ithaca that left because they were required to have a sprinkler system in a greenhouse. Dryden Ag Committee March 8, 2017 Page 3 of 4 D. Teeter commented that what Evan was talking about was more of an action step than a vision. The Committee reviewed the goals and strategies worksheet to choose their priorities: Increase Community Awareness and Understanding of Agriculture’s Benefits: Goal 1 – Increase general agriculture awareness and support for the Town’s agriculture industry. 1b and 1e M. Roth felt 1d – promoting direct marketing – was a valuable goal based on recent conversations. Create a Supportive Environment For Farming: Goal 1 – Infrastructure/policies important to farming. 1-c and 1-e Goal 2 – Limit non-farm development in agricultural areas. 2-c and 2-a Goal 3 – Create incentives to direct development away from agricultural areas. 3-a and 3-d Goal 4 – Tax policies that make owning farmland affordable. 4-d Protect and Promote the Best Farmland and Encourage Environmental Stewardship Goal 1 - Promote Land Stewardship to protect soil, water and environmental quality 1-e and 1-c Goal 2 - Protect the best land for farming 2-f and 2b, c & d (b,c &d all work together) Farm Friendly Zoning and other Legislation Goal 1 - Ensure Zoning and other local laws are not unreasonably restrictive and give priority to farming and related enterprises in the Rural Agriculture District 1-b, 1-c, 1-a, 1-e and 1-f J. Kiefer asked if the Town’s zoning was in lock-step with the Ag and Markets Law, would that take care of the issues in the plan. Not necessarily. J. Kiefer asked the question to bring up the point that the plan will have state law behind it and stating that right out front will give the plan more clout. Strengthen the Farm Economy and the Future Viability of Farming Goal 1 – Strengthen the Farm Economy, Farm Viability and Agricultural Economic Development Solar needs to be added to this section. Goal 2- Encourage New Farming enterprises – promote new opportunities Goal 3 – Future Farmers/ Farm Labor 3-e Dryden Ag Committee March 8, 2017 Page 4 of 4 J. Kiefer asked if there is a way to quantify the issues that would arise if migrant labor were removed – what are the benefits versus negatives associated with migrant labor. D. Teeter had to leave the meeting. M. Roth indicated that they would try to change the “flavor” of the plan, making it more relevant to Dryden. S. Foote asked if the Lansing plan was based on a previously written plan. M. Roth said no, that one was an original and she doesn’t think basing the Dryden plan on the Lansing plan was the best way to approach this plan. It should have been more a grassroots project. She admitted that they have not done as well as she believes they could have but the plan can be fixed. Dryden is a more complex town. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:15PM. Respectfully submitted, Erin A. Bieber Deputy Town Clerk